Not to mention the irony of a taking supplements that cost more in a month than the annual grocery bill for a a family living in poverty in a third world country. Remind me again, how is this helping the poor children of Nicaragua and Baltimore?

Seriously, I really hope that the sponsors of this endeavor take a closer look at this guy and what he is doing. Cienski's endeavor is simply offensive and I hope that his funding gets diverted to a deserving charity before he gets a chance to waste it!

damn, and I was looking forward to a piggy-backed peak to peak effort to benefit all the cyclopsed bolivian uninsured crack-whore babies using english as their second language while drinking pond scum through land-mined brothel infested scientology churches, but only the ones with the starbucks outlets.

Ya wanna see my extreme train-track run? It's even got Rocky Balboa sound bites, but with more of a cliffhanger motif and topless dancers.

"... We lead climbed up, then toproped for a little while... Have you ever been rock climbing outdoors before?"

ďAt 18 years old I left college and enrolled in a 3-month outdoor leadership course in the Rocky Mountains of Canada." (from his site) So he's been climbing for 29 years though when he goes out cragging, its newsworthy? And on bolted rock he topropes? Hmmm. Also, according to his linkedin profile he has university education. Seems inconsistent.

This has all the makings of a Will Ferrell movie, a la Talladega Nights.

I think you just figured it out. This is all a marketing ploy for a new mountaineering comedy. Ben Stiller will play the evil, super serious competing mountaineer trying to get to the top first for personal gain.

Keep piling on the negative comments, we know he's watching and responding. Keep sending emails to under armour. I sent one to their system and they said they forwarded it to the PR dept. One email doesn't make a difference but many do.

You're right, dude. NO ONE has EVER employed several thousand sherpa to get one shitnut up a bunch of mountains before. Nor has a "charity" mission ever been so transparent as a fully sponsored bid for fame.

I'm 54 and like trad, alpine, ice climbing when I can. I love long moderate climbs, and consider myself technically sound with my mountain craft, though I don't climb at a high level. I hope to travel to the Alps some day to fulfill a childhood dream. That sums up my climbing. I am not an expert climber.

I am a retired police lieutenant and have been very active in anti-human trafficking efforts since 2006. I have sat on a number of national-level advisory boards, and now consult on human trafficking responses. My clients include the U.S. Department of Justice, United State Attorney's Office, and a variety of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). I am much more of an expert on human trafficking than climbing.

Since federal law defined trafficking in 2000, many individuals and organizations have appeared in the anti-trafficking community who do not investigate cases or provide direct services to victims. Some of these organizations and individuals have raised A LOT of money, often because most people don't understand the complexity of human trafficking and the even more complex response to slavery. This lack of knowledge allows, sometimes, for self-promoters to enter the anti-HT space and make money. Money which could otherwise go to directly supporting victims of trafficking, or building the collaborative responses needed to prevent trafficking. Trafficking is an immensely popular topic, and Mission 14 seems to me to be much more about the "mission" than making a dent in trafficking. When a person or an organization uses the plight of slaves, exploited children, or other social issues like poverty to promote their own agenda, we call that exploiting the exploited. Mission 14 is not the first, nor will they be the last. But just going by the description of the plan to ascend all 8,000ers - and if the budget is secured - it will probably be the largest amount of money spent to do "something" to fight HT, with very little direct benefit to the victims.

This is shameful. Much could be accomplished in Baltimore and Managua with the funds that will be spent on the expedition. And the amount of money that can be raised by telling the story of Mission 14 is reduced by travel and production fees, and a lot of other costs. So revenue from the story will not equal the lesser amount which will go to the real cause - fighting slavery.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to, hopefully, inform some of you about the growing number of organizations which seem to be supporting causes, when the actual benefit to the cause will be far less than it appears.

Mission 14 is getting blasted on MP because we all see the laughable nature of the mission plan and have, at least, an arm-chair appreciation for the risk the Sherpas will make and the impact on a sport we all love. But non-climbers will not see what we see, and many will support Mission 14 due to their limited understanding of the realities of responding to HT.

It is very unfortunate that some will exploit others' suffering for a mere athletic expedition. Thanks for reading.